AAA Alaskan Outfitters Gets Thumbs Uo for Brown Bear Hunt

Published: February - 2011

Subscriber Thomas Martini has filed a positive report on a brown bear hunt on the Alaska Peninsula with AAA Alaskan Outfitters (620-481-0537; www.aaaalaskanoutfitters .com). Martini says this was an excellent hunt, and he took a 10-foot brown bear on the fifth day of hunting this past September. His guide was Troy Kitchel of Kitchel Alaska Guide Service, who worked with Brent Jones of AAA Alaskan to conduct this hunt.

Martini says they saw three to four bears each day, mostly distant and on the move, or in thick alders. Each morning they would hike about an hour to a knob where they glassed for bear from the beach to the surrounding hills. He says they didn't move around much so as not to disturb the area and leave scent. For this reason, Martini says this hunt requires you to "bring your patience" and a good pair of binocs. On the fifth day, he spotted his bear in some alders, and they stalked it.

Of the guide he says, "Troy Kitchel is a very competent guide, and we got along extremely well right from the start& he hunts hard and knows what he is doing. I highly recommend him." He also gives Jones high marks and says all the references he checked before booking his hunt were spot on about how Jones runs his operation. "I would not hesitate to book with Brent again," says Martini.

Martini offers two warnings to fellow subscribers interested in this hunt. One is that they should wear as much of their hunting clothes as they can and to carry as much gear as possible in their carry-on daypack for the flight from Anchorage to King Salmon. He says the plane that PenAir flies cannot carry much extra baggage, and more than half the hunters who arrived when he did went to their camps awaiting bags coming on later flights. His second warning is: "This hunt is more mentally than physically challenging. If you don't have patience to sit in one spot all day - don't go."........(continued)